The ground shuddered. A crack raced across the throne room floor. A goblet rattled off a table and shattered into glittering pieces. 'Hold fast,' King Marlow II called. His knights ran from every corridor, armor clattering like rain on a tin roof.
Marlow II gripped his sword, knuckles white. He watched the shards scatter across the stone. 'The island is waking,' he thought. His reflection in the polished blade showed only steady eyes.
He strode to the castle wall and peered over the battlements. The island buckled beneath the sea, sending ripples through the harbor. Salt wind whipped his cape.
'The tremor grows,' said Sir Fenwick, appearing at his side. A flock of gulls wheeled away screaming toward the channel, their cries sharp against the groaning rock.
Marlow II marched his knights down the winding path to the shore. Waves slapped harder against the rocks, spitting salt over their boots.
The sea foamed at their feet. Each wave seemed to push back, as if the ocean itself resisted the shaking land.
From the snowy mountains, a boulder tumbled and buried itself in the harbor sand with a sound like thunder rolling downhill. The knights flinched but held their line.
'We must stand together,' Marlow II announced. His knights formed a tight wedge between two cliff faces, shoulder to shield. The island groaned and shuddled again, loud as a sleeping giant turning in bed.
Marlow II stepped beyond the wedge and planted his banner in the cracked earth. The red fabric snapped in wind that smelled of wet stone and crushed pine.
The knights locked their spears into the ground like a fence of iron trees. A strange sound rose from the island itself — a deep, steady hum, resonant as a cathedral bell struck by an invisible hand.
Marlow II stood motionless, listening. The hum swelled, vibrating through the soles of his boots. Slowly, the trembling began to slow.
The island settled into stillness. The knights cheered so loudly a colony of seagulls erupted from the cliffs above in a silver-gray storm. Snow tumbled down from the mountain peaks in soft white ribbons. Marlow II removed his helmet and let the quiet sea breeze lift his hair as the knights clapped him on the back, their boots stamped firm on ground that no longer shook.